My London Experience
Visiting London and securing temporary, contract or permanent employment opportunities can be a highly lucrative, fulfilling and career enhancing experience. However don’t just take our word for it; here’s what some of our contacts have had to say about their time in the UK.
"I was referred to Hunter Jameson through a friend and had an amazing experience. I was looking for a role that would be exciting and challenging whilst living in London and was placed at Russian Standard Vodka.
My experience at RSV was truly international as i built up the commercial support to our global sales teams looking after 75+ countries. This helped me to expand my knowledge of FMCG across these countries which is something I would never even dream of working in Sydney. Not only did I receive support and guidance whilst looking for a role - I also had Hunter Jameson checking in on how things were going - making sure that I was enjoying the role. I have worked professionally for 12 years and I have never been so impressed with the quality of service that I have received from a recruiter.
I was taken care of on my arrival in London, during my assignment as well as career advice on my return to Sydney. I would highly recommend anyone looking for exceptional personalised service to contact Hunter Jameson."
"My wife and I moved to London in 2002, both with about 10 years experience in our chosen professions, Finance for me and IT for my wife. This was a little different to many of our Friends who had made the trip as backpackers with no or minimal professional experience. This lead to us being able to secure excellent jobs in London which in turn allowed us to live a very nice lifestyle in London and enabled us to travel all over Europe in relative style. Professionally, I was able to really consolidate on my early career by being able to work at two multinational companies with significant operations in London supporting global businesses. The roles I had were certainly both career building and a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed the opportunity to travel to different part of Europe to get the experience of how business is done across the continent. The networks I was able to establish remain very strong today and this has become very important to me over time. The diversity of businesses that operate in the European markets are so different to the resources and banking dominated Australian market which enabled me to gain experience in FMCG and the entertainment sectors where it would have been significantly more difficult to do this in Australia. When I compare my time in the UK with time spent later living and working in China, I think the balance of work and life that can be achieved in Europe is still significantly better than can be achieved in many parts of Asia. Each have advantages and disadvantages but both my wife and I enjoyed our time in the UK immensely both professionally and personally. There really is nothing like seeing Australia beat England in a rugby game at Twickenham!"
"My time in London was an invaluable growth experience. Martin Leach and his team at Hunter Jamieson helped me find some fantastic employment opportunities that provided a great way for me to launch my career internationally. I gained valuable career opportunities and skills that led to CFO level roles when I returned to Australia. London is a truly vibrant international city, with fantastic people, restaurants, and places to see. Its proximity to the European continent also made many weekend getaways to Paris, Venice, Prague, and other great cities both affordable and easy. That experience serves as one of the best times of my life and career."
"I spent several years working in London and absolutely loved it! From a personal standpoint, I was able to travel, explore, and make lots of new friends. Professionally, I was able to work in the hub for International Financial Reporting Standards and work with large multi-national companies, meeting co-workers from around the world. London was the perfect choice because there were no language or cultural barriers and I was able to integrate personally and professionally quite quickly. However, the history, culture, and geographical proximity to other European countries was something I hadn’t experienced in Canada and welcomed the opportunity to explore. The knowledge I gained and the strength of character I built working abroad was extremely valuable upon returning to Canada. I’ve now relocated back to my hometown of Winnipeg and have found a great role as the Financial Controller at the Winnipeg Airports Authority Inc. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without having worked abroad and I highly recommend London and Hunter Jameson to anybody considering a new and exciting career opportunity!"
"Building a career in London will give any bright, dynamic and ambitious candidate many exciting growth opportunities, including working for global blue chip companies, interacting with high calibre colleagues, involvement in large scale / high profile projects, and the chance to work on amazing iconic brands. These experiences can springboard your career, as it did for me. I had the chance to move to other international cities, and experience many cultures through travel and transversal projects. I was also offered opportunities to switch careers and expand my skill-set, before returning to South Africa as a more commercially minded, business driving and value adding Finance Director."
When I look back at the experiences and opportunities that came my way when I was working in the UK I really do feel lucky. Not only did it position me very well to come back to more senior finance roles within the Australian market, but it gave me fantastic exposure to different businesses and operating models that I still reference back to. When Martin, from Hunter Jamieson, first described the role to me I thought it was my dream job. Within my first week at Diageo I was off to work in Ireland, followed by Japan, Russia and Vietnam. Projects were as broad as prioritizing and selecting partners in new markets or cities (in the case of Russia) to looking at potential acquisitions. After 2 years I was easily able to use this experience to move internally and take on an FC role for the African markets which gave me excellent exposure to areas like controls, compliance and staff development. I have been in senior finance roles since.
In addition to the lifestyle (I met my English husband during my time in the UK) and travel opportunities I found that because the UK was a larger market there were more niche roles - a luxury from my experience you don't get in Australia and can create a lot more depth on your CV. If you have the opportunity I highly recommend a stint working in the UK.
